It was a rollercoaster of emotions for Romain Febvre at the end of his home GP in France!
He thought he lost the GP on on the last lap when Jeffrey Herlings passed him, he was then told he won the GP when he crossed the line, he stood proudly on top of the podium in front of his home crowd victorious then amazingly, was told at the press conference he hadn’t actually won the GP due to controversial yellow flag penalties and title rival Tim Gajser had, in fact, won the French Grand Prix!
A miffed Febvre had this to say about what was an embarrassing situation for those running MXGP and it could have big consequences in the title chase: “I don’t know what to say… At the end I didn’t win the GP. After the podium, tv interview, celebrations… We came to the press conference and somebody from MXGP told us that 2 riders has been penalized in the top five so I don’t win the GP but Tim Gajser wins. In one way, I get it because rules are rules. But something has to change quick, probably people. How can you wait that long, FIM? And why did no one from the FIM come to us to explain it? No one. Nothing like this would have happened in MotoGP… So it means they’re more professional, better and quicker. But it is also FIM, so, I guess it’s our people?!”.
Let’s hope lessons are learned, the fans can’t be told their home hero won, share in the podium joy and French national anthem, then drive home and be told it was a different winner!
And Jeremy Seewer isn’t happy with the decision to give the penalty in the first place saying: “Not sure but I think the video and picture (see at the bottom of this article) explains itself. I got dropped 2 positions by FIM because of this incident. There is NO CHANCE to see this marshal because he is behind the banners plus the big puddle before makes you nearly blind and I had to put my head down as you see on the photo”.
“Okay rules are rules and FIM told me there is zero tolerance. But why only 2 out of the 5 riders who jumped got the penalty? FIM LIVE?”
“If you let us race in those conditions you have to be ready to deal with the consequences! And decisions like this are NOT acceptable for a world championship. What is your opinion?”
You can see the video below courtesy of GetDirt Racing:
